Date of birth: Jan. 17, 1954
Residence: Miami
Occupation: former Miami-Dade County mayor
Education: B.A., Barry University
Family: wife, Lourdes; three children, six grandchildren
Former Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez defeated incumbent Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (D), putting Florida’s southernmost district back in Republican hands.
Florida’s 26th Congressional District, where moderate Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R) was unseated in 2018, has a history of swinging back and forth between the parties.
Gimenez takes over the seat after a long career in Miami politics. The Cuban-born firefighter rose through the ranks, working for nearly a decade as fire chief before becoming the city manager for Miami in 2000. He was elected to the Miami-Dade County Commission in 2004 and served in that role until he was elected mayor in 2011, following a recall of then-mayor Carlos Alvarez.
His campaign has centered on his career in city government, boasting of slashing budgets and reducing the city workforce as a way to save taxpayers money.
“To make government more efficient and effective, Gimenez reduced the number of county departments from 42 to 26, eliminated 1,700 positions and renegotiated contracts with public sector labor unions, saving taxpayers over $400 million,” according to his campaign site.
Gimenez came to the U.S. as a boy in 1960 when his family left Cuba following the revolution.
– Rebecca Beitsch